Role of potassium and malate in nitrate uptake and translocation by wheat seedlings

Wheat seedlings (Triticum vulgare) treated with 1 mm KNO(3) or NaNO(3), in the presence of 0.2 mm CaSO(4), were compared during a 48-hour period with respect to nitrate uptake, translocation, accumulation and reduction; cation uptake and accumulation; and malate accumulation. Seedlings treated with KNO(3) absorbed and accumulated more nitrate, had higher nitrate reductase levels in leaves but less in roots, accumulated 17 times more malate in leaves, and accumulated more of the accompanying cation than seedlings treated with NaNO(3). Within seedlings of each treatment, changes in nitrate reductase activity and malate accumulation were parallel in leaves and in roots. Despite the great difference in malate accumulation, leaves of the KNO(3)-treated seedlings had only slightly greater levels of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase than leaves of NaNO(3)-treated seedlings. NADP-malic enzyme levels increased only slightly in leaves and roots of both KNO(3)- and NaNO(3)-treated seedlings. The effects of K(+) and Na(+) on all of these parameters can best be explained by their effects on nitrate translocation, which in turn affects the other parameters. In a separate experiment, we confirmed that phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase activity increased about 2-fold during 36 hours of KNO(3) treatment, and increased only slightly in the KCl control.